burned She closed her eyes unable to watch the final moments As soon as the pontoons slapped the surface the nut dissolved and she opened her eyes Thanks Mom Kaylee said staring at a scrape on her knee wishing it had been better this time Mom didn't get many days off work but when she did Kaylee would sometimes ask if they could try a short flight Mom must have known that lately Kaylee would rather do anything than climb into an airplane but always said yes Kaylee was determined to get past this recent and unexpected fear She had to Sometimes when her mom was at work she would sit alone in the plane listening to the water lap against the pontoons and dock her heart thumping against the wall of her chest She'd remember the way it used to be soaring past candy floss clouds gazing at a patchwork land below She'd force her pulse to slow by concen 6
trating on her breathing sucking air in through her nose and slowly out through her mouth Don't worry about it Kaylee her mother said gently maneuvering the plane toward their private dock where a tri colored basset hound sat watching them his tail thumping We'll keep trying I'm sure it will pass someday I know Mom Kaylee said but she didn't a 7
Chapter Two The summer day sparkled A few wisps of high cirrus cloud feathered a bluebell sky The sun was a pot of white bright and hot She peered up at it through her fingers her eyes watering The cool of the northern forest beckoned as always After helping her mom secure the Cessna she grabbed her walking stick from the back deck and took off into the woods with her favorite friend Where are you going to be her mom called after her Red Sector she yelled trotting up the path after her disappearing basset hound 8
Kaylee always knew exactly where she was going but using their own special code made her mom feel better A few years ago their neighbor Jack had brought them a map showing most of the hiking trails in the area They had taken a ruler and divided the map into four sections as signing a different color to each Whenever she went hiking she picked her sector and called out a color or pinned a raven's feather to it if her mom wasn't around It was much easier to pick a color than to try and explain a set of paths They lived in Blue Sector per left corner of the map Paths in that corner mostly led from cottages to the bay on the right or the other way to the highway and beyond The highway cut straight north along the middle of the map before slicing through Blue Sector dividing it like pie pieces as it curved around Booker Bay toward the main lake further east the up 9
